In Gaza, news outlets targeted, journalists injured

New York, November 19, 2012--Israeli authorities must immediately halt
airstrikes targeting news media offices in the Gaza Strip, the Committee to
Protect Journalists said today following a series of strikes that injured at
least nine journalists and damaged several offices.

"Israel should respect its obligations under international law
and immediately halt its attacks against news media offices," said CPJ Middle
East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. "Authorities know
these buildings are home to numerous news organizations whose employees are
civilians protected by international law."

A series of airstrikes beginning early Sunday and continuing today targeted
two buildings, Al-Shawa and Housari Tower and Al-Shuruq Tower, which are
well-known for housing numerous international and local news organizations,
news reports said. The attacks damaged the offices of Al-Aqsa TV and Al-Quds
TV, Sky News, Russia Today, Al-Arabiya, and the independent Bethlehem-based
Ma'an News Agency, according to news
reports. Both Al-Aqsa TV and Al-Quds TV are affiliated with Hamas, the Islamic
party governing the Gaza Strip. Several other international and local news
organizations, including Reuters, The Associated Press, and CNN, also have
offices in the targeted buildings.

At least seven journalists
were injured in the first attack at 2 a.m., when missiles hit the 11th
floor of the Al-Shawa and Housari Tower, which is home to Al-Quds TV, news
reports said. Khader al-Zahhar, a cameraman for Al-Quds TV, lost his right leg
in the explosion and was taken to an Egyptian hospital for treatment, the
reports said. Other Al-Quds TV journalists--Omar al-Ifranji, Hussein al-Madhoun,
Ibrahim Labed, Mohamed al-Akhras, Darwish Bulbul, and Hazim al-Daawar--were also
injured by shrapnel, news
reports said.

At about 7 a.m., the second airstrike hit the 15th floor
of the nearby Al-Shuruq Tower, home to Al-Aqsa TV, news
reports said. No Al-Aqsa journalists were reported injured, but the office
was completely destroyed, according to news reports.

Abdel-Ghani Jaber, director of a private Palestinian media
production company, told
Reuters that two of his employees were hurt when the blast shattered the
windows of their office in Al-Shuruq Tower. Jaber did not name the journalists.

Al-Shuruq Tower was hit again by an Israeli airstrike on Monday afternoon,
but no journalists were immediately reported wounded, according to news
reports.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told Al-Jazeera
English that the airstrikes were "not targeting journalists" and that "No
foreign journalists were hurt whatsoever" in the attacks. He did not comment on
the local journalists who had been wounded.

Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said the
military was aware that journalists were present in the building but that their
target was an antenna being used by Hamas: "Hamas took a civilian building and
used it for its own needs. So the journalists ... were serving as human shields
for Hamas," Reuters quoted
Leibovich as saying.

In a separate episode, local journalists reported
that the Israeli military briefly took over Gaza radio airwaves on Sunday to broadcast
a warning to journalists and civilians: "We recommend that you stay away from
the places of terrorists and the infrastructure of Hamas," the warning said. Al-Aqsa
TV also reported on Monday that their transmissions had been briefly intercepted
by the Israeli military, which caused static on their airwaves for several
hours, Agence
France-Presse reported.

On Monday, The New York Timesreported that
a drone attack had killed the driver of a vehicle believed to be a taxi that
was being used by journalists and identified with "Press" signs. News accounts
did not report further details, including which journalists had hired the car.

These attacks come amid continuous Israeli airstrikes on the
Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip since last week, in which dozens of Palestinians
have been killed, according to news reports.

CPJ documented a
wave of attacks against the media by Israel in a month-long barrage of
airstrikes on the Gaza Strip between December 2008 and January 2009.

For more information and data about Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, visit CPJ's Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories page here.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This text has been modified to reflect the correct spelling of Mohamed al-Akhras's name.